Steamboat Bill

I just arrived last night at the HCC Waikoloa, Hawaii property and will be here one week and then go to the HCC Maui property.

I will post more, but I am pooped. Seriously, Hawaii is a long trek from the East Coast USA. I left my house at 11am EST and walked into the Hawaii home 16 hours later 3am (my body clock time)

I left my house 2.5 hours before takeoff, had a 5 hour flight to LA, about 1.5 hour layover, 5.5 hour flight to Hawaii, 1 hour to get my luggage and rental car and .5 hour to drive to the home.

I will post some reviews and thoughts during this week.

Kagehitokiri

the new one?

pwrshift

Have a great holiday, Bill.

Steamboat Bill

Believe it or not...I still am not used to the 6 hour time change yet.

We explored the island yesterday, visited Kona, and bought some groceries.

Today we went to the beach at Mauna Kea and it was awesome and then went to visit the Hilton Waikoloa.

The HCC property is very nice and I will describe it in more detail soon.

LTTravel

Maybe you can run into the UE Premiere members there and compare your experience, residence, etc.

Steamboat Bill

High Country Club – Waikoloa Hawaii review

I had a wonderful week in Hawaii with my family this past week and wanted to give an overview of this property.

HCC owns unit #1905 at the Waikoloa Colony Villas on the Big Island of Hawaii. The property is located in the popular Waikoloa area and has easy access to just about everything on the island.

One thing different about the big island is that there are only a few sandy beaches and I would rate Mauni Kea (10 minute drive) as one of the best in the world. The Waikoloa Hilton is just down the street and this resort is massive with a private monorail and boat travel to the different parts of the resort.

The HCC unit is located in a townhome complex that has about 6 different townhomes attached in an upside down U shape and has a very small one car garage. The townhome is two stories and there were no immediate neighbors here this week. Most of the units are private ownership but ResortQuest is the official broker for renters and the going nightly rate for 3 bedrooms is in the $435-560 range + 11.5% tax.

Once you enter the front door and walk into the main entrance way you immediately see a well designed property with Hawaiian theme furniture, artwork, pillows, and decorations everywhere. This is greatly appreciated as it puts you in the Hawaiian mind frame.

The kitchen is on the small size, but well equipped with all GE appliances and has just about every accessory you can imagine. The cabinets are well stocked with glass wear and plates. Everything was very clean and the Hawaiian themed glass wear was fun to drink from.

The dining room had very soft chairs (also with palm trees on them) for 6 people and the table was a solid marble surface and well lit. The view from the dining room looked out into the patio where there were 6 chairs (all new condition) and a small round table for 4. The patio looked out onto the main pool for the resort complex and the pool.

The family room was fairly large with a 20 foot vaulted ceiling and some of the most comfortable sofa, love seats, and chairs I have ever sat in. They had a Tommy Bahama theme and I would love to buy them for my own home…very comfy.

I was surprised to see the television cabinet only had a standard glass 32 inch Samsung television rather than a plasma or LCD, but the quality of the cable TV was very good and we really did not watch much television. There was also a small Philips stereo and Microsoft Xbox 360 game system. HCC supplies several Xbox games, DVD movies, books, board games, but we did not test any of them out.

There was a guest bathroom on the first floor and a narrow staircase that led up to the second floor. The second floor had a stacked washer/dryer combo in the hallway closet and the first guest bedroom was located on the right of the laundry closet. The guest bedroom had a firm Queen bed and Asian theme that was a chocolate brown colored room. My daughter stayed here and liked the privacy of her own room.

The second floor guest bathroom had one sink with marble countertop and a shower/tub combo. The second guestroom had two twin beds where my son and mother-in-law slept and the beds were a little softer but, obviously smaller than a Queen sized bed. I preferred the colors and themeing in this bedroom as it felt more Hawaiian. Both bedrooms had a private closet and plenty of cabinets for clothes.

The master bedroom was at the end of the hallway and had a very soft King sized bed and nice colors, furniture design and a much larger walk in closet. The only omission here is that HCC really needs a safe located in the master bedroom closet for valuables. There was a very small private walkout patio that overlooked the pool, but it is a tight fit for two adults and the two high quality chairs. I was also surprised to see a standard television that was wall mounted in the corner of the room that had a DVD/VHS combo, but never used this during our stay. The master bathroom was much larger than the other two bathrooms and had two separate sinks, marble countertops, separate tub and separate shower. My main complaint would be the size of the shower was very small (4 feet x 4 feet), but I am not sure how it could be enlarged, without getting rid of the tub.

The high speed Internet worked great and was not password protected and the garage was well equipped with multiple boogie boards, skimboards, beach chairs, beach mats, toys, etc.

All in all, this home was a great launching pad for exploring this HUGE island and the location was very good, but was not beachfront. When I checked into the values of the homes here, the price range was about $600k, thus this home would be on the lower end of the HCC price range. That said, I had no major complaints about this home and we all had a wonderful time here.

Bourne

The units out there are in the 650-850K range. The purchase price for HCC unit was 760K.

Steamboat Bill

I met with a Realtor yesterday and the listings for 2 bedrooms here (i.e the same ones UE has two units) are going for under $500k and the 3 bedrooms (like this HCC unit) are selling for $575-650k depending on location.

There are many nicer and newer developments in the neighboring development and in other areas that run about $800-1m that are unbelievably nice. I toured the new development next door called the "Hali I Kai" and they are much nicer and have a great community club house ON the OCEAN. I also really liked the "Mauna Lani" area, but this area is slightly more expensive and ER has 17 homes here.

I think it may be getting time that PE and HCC should consider selling their units in Waikoloa Colony Villas and upgrade to a nicer area. I noticed several renters here and you can even get into a 2 bedroom unit here via a timeshare exchange company for $1,200 per week (non-prime) for a 2 bedroom.

This area is still very nice (right now) but may not always be that way if this place starts taking a lot of renters.

LTTravel

Prices for rental an nice virtual tours of the residences at Colony Villas here:

Waikoloa Colony Villas | Big Island Vacation Rentals

Hai i Kai here:

Halii Kai at Waikoloa

and here:

Waikoloa Beach Luxury Villas and Hawaii Oceanfront Island Homes at Halii Kai. Luxury Kohala Coast Real Estate on the Big Island.

You could probably shop for lower prices.

Steamboat Bill

I will be happy to answer any questions about this unit or the area and I will post about some of the activities we did that we enjoyed.

A few random thoughts:

The Ralph Lauren towels here are very soft and plush, everyone liked them.

The view out the master window of the community pool area was very nice, but not as nice as an unobstructed ocean view.

The breeze here is not as strong as property near the ocean.

The furniture and pictres on the walls were great....very Hawaiian.

Steamboat Bill

Here are a few more tidbits of information as I get back to my real life (working) and organizing some of the receipts.

Dollar rental car had the best prices by far in Kona. I decided to join their Dollar Express program (free) and was treated very well. I rented a Chrysler 300 car with about 4,000 miles on it and it worked well. I just don't like the name Dollar rental as it sounds so cheap. I usually use Hertz Gold, but their prices were much higher.

The Sea Quest Snorkel Adventure was awesome and highly recommended. This is about 10 people max on a inflatable boat...goes to 2x snorkel sites and many lava sea caves...very thrilling.

The Hilton Waikoloa valet parking was $19...for a 2 hour visit. Self parking is about $10 and the walk was probably 1/2 mile (for real). There is a $1 shuttle, but I did not want to wait on a street corner with my family.

The drive to the Hawaii Volcano National Park was LONG....very long. Too bad 50% of the Crater Rim Drive was shut down due to excessive Sulfer dioxide gas from the March eruption. The Jaggar Museum was ok, and the view was excellent. We really enjoyed the Thurston Lava Tube...awesome short walk. We also drove to the lava flow where it meets the sea and had a great view of the lava flow.....it was very hot that day.

On the drive to the Volcano, stop by Tex Drive-in in Honokaa for some "Malasadas"...beneigs/doughnut creation.

If you are in Hilo...you must visit the Hilo Bay cafe. It is located in a strip mall and next to a kids arcade...but the food was outstanding...best we had on the island....too bad it is not in Kona or we would have gone 2-3 times.

The Canoe House restaurant was pretty good for adults and had a great ambiance, but much more expensive and not as good as Hilo Bay cafe.

The Tommy Bahama Cafe in Mauna Lani was awesome.....everything on their menu was very good and is highly recommended. Great breeze on the second floor.